Being the the President of the United States has its perks, but one of the downsides is that people get access to even the most private of details. A prime is example is the annual ritual of scrutinizing the President’s tax return[3]. Here are the salient details:

They earned $1.73 million, the vast majority of which came from his books (1.38 million, after expenses)

He maximized his employer contributions to retirement in a SEP, SIMPLE, or some other – $49k

They donated nearly $250,000 to charity, or about 14% of his income.

They received a tax refund of $12,334 because of his estimated tax payments (higher than the average tax return[4]!).

The pundits have already seized on the fact that Vice President Biden didn’t donate as much money as President Obama, a “mere” 1.4%. 1.4% is still $5,350, a pretty generous sum that any charity would be happy to receive. That said, I wonder what the average (mean) is.